


i'll leave you to it

by fairkidforever



Series: a million things I haven't done [1]
Category: Animorphs (TV), Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cassie and Tobias join forces, M/M, Matchmaking, Romantic Fluff, ghostwriter voice attempt, pre-David Trilogy, tobias is tired of ax getting weepy and binge eating at romcoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 02:52:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7667449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairkidforever/pseuds/fairkidforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>just trying to get these two losers to get it together by any means necessary. Cassie and Tobias are fed up with how long it's taking Ax and Marco to tell one another how they feel, so they're taking matters into their own hands. </p><p>Takes place between #18: the Decision and #19: the Departure.</p><p>Mops asked for it. (http://menderash.tumblr.com/post/147684605039/whats-yr-ideal-axmarco-fic-dont-hold-back-also)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tobias

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mops](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mops/gifts).



My name is Tobias.

I’m a bird. I’m a boy. I have some dangerous enemies.

And man, do I have some idiot friends.

Take Ax, for example. My best friend and fellow misfit may be smart enough to hack into any Yeerk computer know to man (or, well, Animorphs) and brave enough to take on Visser Three in single combat (although that might have been more suicidal than brave), but everyone’s favorite blue-centaur-scorpion-deer alien does not have the emotional intelligence or guts that God gave a bluejay when it comes to telling people how he feels.

Well, I should amend that. He was pretty straightforward telling me how he feels about Marco. He just kept stalling at the gate when it came to telling _Marco_ that.

<Okay, so what went wrong this time?> I asked, trying to maintain my patience as we floated over downtown in our respective raptor morphs. Four days into surveillance of the new Yeerk pool entrance working with Marco and Ax had come no closer to making his move.

<Rachel informed me that when she came to take over Marco’s watch, I had “chickened out big time”,> Ax said. <I do not understand. I was in harrier morph. I was not a chicken.>

<It’s a figure of speech, Ax-man,> I said. <Look, we’ve been over this. You like him. Rachel told me that Jake told Cassie that Marco told Jake that he’s into you. So we have that on good authority. But he’s too much of a strategist to make the first move unless he knows that it’s going to be received favorably, so that means the ball is in your court.>

<There is a ball?>

<It means it’s on you, Ax-man,> I said. <You want this to happen, you need to go for it.>

<I am unclear as to the chain of communication that led you to believe with such assuredness that Marco is “into” me,> Ax said, readjusting his flight feathers and soaring a dozen feet above me.

<I told you,> I said. <Jake told Cassie, Cassie told Rachel, Rachel told me.>

<And Marco expressed his feelings directly to Prince Jake?> Ax asked. <I am aware that Prince Jake and Marco have been shorms for many of your years, but I am surprised that Marco was so forthcoming to Prince Jake.  He is generally reserved and guarded with his emotions in almost every circumstance.>

<I don’t know if Marco said all that,> I said. <I think Jake was reading between the lines.>

<Let us review exactly what Cassie said to Rachel.>

<Rachel wouldn’t set you up, Ax,> I said. <I know you two butt heads sometimes, but she’s not the type to play games.>

<I do not believe that Rachel is, as you say, “setting me up,”> Ax said.

<But you’re still not sure if you trust her intel?>

<I do not wish to criticize Rachel,> Ax said. Even in thoughtspeak, he sounded awkward. <I have great respect for her skill in battle and I am aware that she is special to you.>

<Well, I’m glad you picked up on that, dude,> I said. <But you can say what’s on your mind, I can keep your concerns in confidence.> I care a lot about Rachel, and I know she cares a lot about me, but there was no denying the fact she and Ax clash on strategy and authority issues from time to time. But I didn’t want that to affect the rest of our team dynamics if I could help it.

<I believe that it is possible that Rachel would not have considered this an important matter and would not have relayed all the details that Cassie convey to her accurately to you,> Ax said. <She is a great warrior, but in my experience she does not display great sensitivity in some areas.>

I laughed. "Does not display great sensitivity in some areas" was a major understatement. <Diplomatically put, Ax-man,> I replied. <Look, leave it all to me. I’ll talk to Cassie.>

<You do not think that Cassie will disapprove?>

<Of what?> I asked. <Doing Marco a favor?>

<No,> Ax said. He shifted his wings away from me slightly. <The idea of Marco and I forming a relationship.>

<Why, because you’re both guys?> I asked. <Ax, I know you’re not from around here and this may not mean much to you, but this is California. Marco has been out of the closet for a while, at least to us and his folks.>

<What? No, of course not.> Ax sounded confused, and I realized I had no idea what the stance was on same-gender relationships on the Andalite homeworld. All I knew was that Alloran, Visser Three’s host, had a wife who he had asked Ax to send a message to in a brief moment where he had control of his body, but that made for a sample size of one. Ax might not have any idea what cultural baggage humans were carrying around about that particular subject. I toyed briefly with the idea of introducing Ax to Will and Grace. <I am unsure of how she will react to the idea of a relationship between a human and an Andalite.>

<Ax, you’re talking about a girl whose best friend is dating a bird,> I said. <To said bird, I might add.>

<Yes, but you and Rachel were both raised in human culture,> Ax said. <Andalites are more cautious than humans in such matters.>

<Aldrea wasn’t,> I pointed out. <She became a Hork-Bajir nothlit to stay with Dak Hamee.>

<Aldrea was in an exceptional situation,> Ax said.

<And you’re not?> I asked. <Look, Ax, I’m not saying that the cross-species dating thing doesn’t have drawbacks. But you just make it work. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but you won’t know what you’re missing if you don’t just go for it.>

<’Just going for it’ is a very human concept,> Ax said, but he sounded like he was considering it. <You are willing to speak directly to Cassie on my behalf?>

<Sure, dude,> I said. <I’ve got your back.>

<You have what?>

I laughed. <Never mind, Ax-man. Just leave it to me.>


	2. Cassie

<You know, you don’t need to do double duty on reconnaissance,> I said as I caught a thermal to float up to join Tobias over downtown. <I know that you want to do your part, but you’re already pulling your weight.>

<It’s no big deal, Cassie,> Tobias said. <You all have covers to maintain. I’ve got nothing to tie me down. And I don’t have to remorph, unlike Ax.>

<Speaking of Ax,> I said, <how is Operation Confession of True Love going?>

<Not good,> I said. <Ax chickened out the last time he and Marco were on surveillance together.>

<Yeah,> I said. <I’m starting to think that the best place for them to come clean about how they feel about each other might not be in raptor morph, floating in midair in the middle of a stakeout.>

<You might be right about that,> Tobias admitted. <The time that they kissed they were both in human morph.>

<Wait, I didn’t hear about this,> I said.

<Yeah,> Tobias said. <A week or two ago when Ax was at Marco’s house, doing some research on the Yeerk infiltration at the mayor’s office. Apparently Ax fell for the old “let me teach you the customs of my people” ploy. Obviously, it was Marco’s idea but he didn’t want to admit that it meant anything to him.>

<That sounds about right for Marco,> I said.

<Here's what I don't get,> Tobias said. <Why wouldn't Marco have just told Ax that he likes him then? It seems pretty obvious that Ax is into him. Do you think it's just the hard-to-get routine, or do you think he honestly can’t tell that Ax likes him? Or is it just that his heart is two sizes two small?>

<No, I don’t think so,> I said. <Beneath that obnoxious exterior, Marco is a fraying ball of insecurities. No way he’s going to admit that he likes Ax first.>

<We’re in trouble in that case,> Tobias said. <Ax is never going to be able to spit it out on stakeout. What do we do?>

<This might usually be Marco’s line,> I said, <but I have a plan.>


	3. Marco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Marco chapter you've all been waiting for. Cue pining, sarcasm, and matchmaking gone awry. (Cassie is not as smooth as she thinks she is.)

Usually our missions as Animorphs are full of dumb unnecessary danger and heedless risk of life and limb, but today we were just going to hang out at the beach for no real reason. Jake had said something about team bonding, which was pretty weak, but when pressed, admitted that the whole thing had been Cassie’s idea and he was just going along with it.

Well, any excuse for a day at the beach, right? I wasn’t about to complain. But by the time I got there, it seemed like half of the crew had already made their excuses and taken off.

“So you’re telling me Tobias can’t make it to our fundatory Animorphs beach trip because he got a better offer from the free Hork-Bajir?” I asked. “Tobias, the freak of nature hawk recluse, had somewhere else to be?”

“Face it, Marco,” Rachel said, spreading out her towel on the sand. “You’re just jealous that Tobias was invited to the Hork-Bajir solstice festival and you weren’t.”

“Yeah, I’m really missing out on the bark buffet,” I said. “The crunchy life is fine for Tobias. Maybe even Cassie. Me, I’ll keep the beach.”

“Some of the most delicious human foods are derived from tree bark,” Ax said. “Cinnamon, for example. Eggg-sample. Zample.”

Every time I find Ax in human morph overwhelmingly attractive, he manages to ruin the effect by doing doing something bizarre, gross, or incredibly inappropriate, the tamest of which being his propensity to play with the words and sounds that Andalites lack with thoughtspeak. In a way, it’s a good thing that the boy is such a weirdo. I don’t know if I would have made it through the last nine months of unrequited longing if Ax wasn’t as loopy as he is pretty.

“Glossing right over that,” I said, “where’s Jake? I thought he planned this.”

“He had a family emergency,” Cassie said. “He was drafted by his mom to help his grandmom move into a nursing home.”

“Wait,” Rachel said. “Did he say which grandmom this was? I might have been volunteered to help with this move as well, I can’t remember.” She grabbed her dayplanner out of her beach bag - both of which went with her swimsuit, amazingly - and flipped to today’s date.

“What do you write for Animorphs-related activities?” I asked. “ITWADW for ‘idiot teenagers with a death wish’?”

“No, I don’t write anything, for security reasons, that’s the problem.” Rachel said. "I didn't realize there was a conflict in my schedule because I didn't write this down." She jumped up and grabbed her towel. “Shoot, I was supposed to be there half an hour ago. Sorry, folks, but duty calls.” She was already putting on her flip-flops and heading for the bus stop.

“The mighty Xena is slipping!” I called after her.

Rachel shot me a withering look and said, “it’s a good thing I’m in a hurry and don’t have time to kick your butt.”

“Farewell, Rachel,” Ax said. “Chel. Chellll.”

“See you soon,” Cassie called after her. She turned to Ax and me. “Hey, I think I’m going to get a popsicle, do either of you guys want anything?”

Ax’s eyes got as round as saucers. “I _would_ like-”

“You know what, maybe that’s not such a good idea,” she said, hurrying off to the snack shack.

“Man, we can really clear a room, huh?” I asked.

“We are not in a room,” Ax pointed out. “We are outside.”

I chose to ignore that. “Don’t you think it’s weird that they all cleared off like that?” I asked. “First of all, we never do extracurricular Animorphs things just for ‘team bonding.’ Second, isn’t it weird that in a matter of minutes the attendees of said bonding event went from six to two?”

“We often take part in various human rituals as a group,” Ax said. “I have attended a wide variety of human dances and holiday celebrations with you and the rest of the Animorphs. It does seem unusual that the rest of the team had other pressing commitments when considered heuristically, but I believe you are falling in the fallacy of confirmation bias. It is not improbable that Tobias, Rachel, and Prince Jake should all have unforeseen prior commitments for a given day.”

“Okay, so where’s Cassie?” I asked.

“She is purchasing delicious popsicles-” I watched Ax’s ridiculously-pretty eyes swing from the snack stand to the rest of the beach and a look of consternation appear as he realized that our favorite tree-hugger was nowhere to be seen.

“Where has she gone? Has Cassie been accosted by Yeerk forces?”

“No, dude, she just ditched,” I said. “And not too smoothly, I have to say. I guess she’s not great at lying under pressure.”

“Why would our friends leave our social event under mysterious and obscured circumstances?” Ax asked. The shock and betrayal written on his breath-stealingly gorgeous face was so pure that I had to believe he hadn’t known that they were planning this. I also realized he must have been sheltered as hell in Andalite school if he was honestly so shocked by this kind of behavior.

“Who knows, dude,” I said. It didn’t seem to have occurred to Ax that this little stunt meant that we were hanging out alone, something that almost never happened. _Maybe that’s because, I don’t know, he doesn’t have feelings for you, Marco. You ever thought of that? Get a grip, dude._ “Some high-level social engineering scheme of Cassie’s.”

“It seems to be very odd behavior,” Ax said.

I realized suddenly that he might decide to up and leave, too. I didn’t want that to happen. Ugh. Us kissing had been a big mistake. Casually making out with Ax under the false premise of disinterested cultural exchange had kind of blown my chances of non-casually making out with Ax under the real premise of us being an item in the foreseeable future. Yet here I was, trying to hang out with him anyway, against my own better interests. Case in point: kissing had been a bad idea. “I’m not going to give them the satisfaction of analyzing it. We’re already here, it’s a nice day, let’s just enjoy the beach. Do you want to play Hackey Sack?” I tried to ignore the weight of Ax’s eyes on me as I fiddled in my bag.

“What is a Hackey, and how does one sack it?”

I sighed, wishing that that I had better taste in guys, or at least that even dumb comments like that from Ax didn’t make my heart skip a beat. It was going to be a long two hours.


	4. Ax

<Good evening, Tobias,> I said as he fluttered down to his usual branch in the meadow.

<Hey, Ax,> Tobias said. He fluffed his feathers and began to preen, starting his nightly sleep-preparation routine. <What’s up?>

<How was the solstice celebration?> I asked. <Any news from Toby Hamee?>

<What?> Tobias asked, looking up from his preening and tilting his head to one side. <What are you talking about?> He looked at me in puzzlement for a moment.

<I had understood that you did not attend the group beach trip because you had a prior engagement at the free Hork-Bajir colony,> I said.

<Oh, the beach trip!> Tobias said. <How did things go with Marco?>

I was confused by the non-sequitur but answered his question. <Marco has taught me a human game called Hackey-Sack. It is similar to a tailblade-training exercise we practice on the Andalite homeworld, but with the added level of difficulty of balancing on unstable human feet->

<Are you telling me you played Hackey-Sack for two hours?> Tobias asked.

<We also swam for several minutes, but the seawater did not have an agreeable taste,> I said, even more confused.

Tobias fixed me with a piercing glare. <Dude, we all bailed so that you would have a chance to talk to Marco one-on-one,> Tobias said. <You didn’t know that? I thought I told you that Cassie and I were going to set something up.>

My eyestalks drooped. I had not realized that my human friends were attempting to abscond from the beach intentionally to provide me with an opportunity to express my emotions to Marco, but it had seemed that perhaps Marco had been aware that something was amiss. <I did not realize this was your plan. I fear I may have squandered an opportunity that you and Cassie dedicated considerable efforts to engineering.>

<Don’t sweat it, Ax-man,> Tobias said, resuming his preening routine. <I guess we should have told you beforehand what we were planning on doing. You couldn’t have been expected to recognize our human matchmaking schemes. We’ll give you a head’s up next time so that you can do the whole carpe diem thing.>

I recognized the phrase _carpe diem_ from the Encyclopedia Britannica. In some ways it was frustrating that human language, even when it did not rely on highly idiomatic and illogical metaphors, employed phrases from more obscure sources to obfuscate the meaning of what was being said. Perhaps this kind of reasoning was part of why I had not recognized Cassie and Tobias’ attempts at matchmaking earlier.  <So you will continue to help me?>

<Of course,> Tobias said. <It was our fault this plan didn’t work, we gotta make it right.>

<You are a true shorm, Tobias,> I said.

<Yeah, yeah, yeah, don’t mention it,> Tobias said, tucking his head under his wing and falling asleep.


	5. Rachel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rachel is so grumpy, guys.

“Alright, Ax,” I said after I had demorphed from eagle and sat down on the forest floor. “I made the necessary calls and I’ve rescheduled a lot of surveillance this week to ensure that you’re working with Marco in every possible opportunity. I hope you realize this means I’m missing my standing Monday Night Movie date with Tobias so that I can spend two hours on stakeout with Jake, so that you have the Friday four to six PM slot with Marco. So instead of enjoying Sleepless in Seattle with Tobias, I am probably going to be treated to another one of Jake’s lectures about my so-called anger issues. Again. For an action-packed one hundred and twenty of our minutes.”

<Truly, Rachel, I am very grateful for your assistance,> Ax said. I must have really put him on edge, because his stalk eyes were scoping out the exits.

“I’m painting you a picture here so that you don’t keep wimping out on us,” I said. “I’m willing to trade shifts with you if it means you bite the bullet and tell Marco how you feel. Happy to do it. But if you flake this time…” I let the second part of that sentence dangle in the air.

<I understand, Rachel,> Ax said. <I will strive to ‘not wimp out,’ although I fear this is a greater challenge than any of the missions we have faced.>

I sighed. This was not going as well as I had hoped. “Pep talks aren’t really my strong suit,” I said. “But I know you’ve got what it takes to pull this off. And I talk a lot of crap about Marco, but he’s a smart guy, and I think he knows better than to let you be the one that got away. Okay?”

<Okay,> Ax said. <Thank you. I appreciate your vote of confidence.>

“Great,” I said. “Let’s do it.”


	6. Jake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jake is kind of a clueless baby.
> 
> Please note: this is the only chapter that contains violence. I tried to stay pretty true to Animorphs form so it's your typical "we were outnumbered and had to demorph in risky situations and got beat up" shtick that you've read in every book but there's gonna be some blood and major characters getting badly injured. Heads' up.

<BAIL!> I shouted in thoughtspeak over the din of the battle. Cassie was in a bad way, and so Tobias had taken a Dracon beam to the wing. Rachel grabbed Cassie with her massively powerful grizzly jaws and carried her up the stairs from the pool to the alley above by the scruff of her neck like a puppy as Marco parted the crowd with one swing after another. Rachel’s teeth on her neck didn’t seem to be hurting Cassie, but she might have already passed out. I needed to get Tobias out of here with a minimum of distractions.

<Ax, can you cover me while I get Tobias to safety?> I asked, leaping over the fallen figures of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons towards the crumpled bundle of feathers by the exit.

<Yes, Prince Jake,> Ax said. <But I advise you to retreat to the stairs as quickly as possible so that the Controllers will not be able to press their numerical advantage.>

<Got it,> I said, scooping Tobias up. <Tobias. Start morphing. Cockroach, fly, anything small. Right now. That’s an order.> I started up the stairs, taking them fifteen at a time.

<Jake?> Tobias asked groggily. <Jake, you have to help me, something’s got me!> He started thrashing around in my jaws.

<It’s me, Tobias, I’m in tiger morph and I’m evacuating you,> I said. <You’ve been badly hurt and need to morph right now.>

That seemed to get through to him and he started shrinking. I got to the top of the stairs and turned back to check on Ax. He was halfway up the stairs and fighting three Hork-Bajir at once but he seemed to be holding his own. His tailstrikes were just as crisp and precise as ever.

<Time to go, Ax,> I said in private thoughtspeak. <Tobias, take a minute to rest up and then morph back to hawk. We need to find Marco and the girls and get out of here.>

I put Tobias, who was mostly bat now, on the ground and started looking for the rest. Rachel and Marco were in morph standing guard over Cassie, who was demorphed and looking shaken but unhurt.

<Cassie, you ought to get wings,> I said. She nodded and started sprouting white feathers. <Rachel and Marco, go ahead and demorph and remorph to owl or bat.> Rachel bared her teeth and I could tell she wasn’t going to like that. <Don’t argue with me, Rachel, just do it now. Demorph.> She glared at me, her eyes flashing green in the dim light, but the bulk started to slide off her frame and I breathed a silent sigh of relief and moved to the shadows to start demorphing as well.

<Where’s Ax, Jake?> Cassie asked, fluttering up to the fire escape.

<He’s covering our exit,> I said as my claws retracted back into my hands and my orange and black fur was sucked back into my skin.

<You mean he’s still in the Yeerk pool?!> Marco exclaimed.

<He was on the stairs,> I said. I could see with my dimming night vision that Rachel had fully demorphed and was starting to morph owl as well. <He was right behind me.>

<I’m going in there after him-> Marco started to say, but at that moment Ax burst out of the crash doors with a tangle of eight Hork-Bajir. Ax retreated out into the alley, but nearly faster than I could follow, they had him circled.

It was only then that I realized the terrible situation I had put Ax in. The rest of us were in escape morphs and now that the Hork-Bajir Controllers were out in public, they had to finish this fight as soon as possible to maintain their secrecy. I couldn’t even communicate with Ax or the others because I was demorphed to human. I started to morph back to tiger as fast as I could, but with the exhaustion of the battle and my rapid demorph, I was fighting through a fog and I wasn’t going to be fast enough.

I heard a series of loud slapping noises and looked up to the fire escape. Marco was hanging off the railing with one hand, beating his chest. He pulled back his lips in a terrible grimace and bared his teeth at the Hork-Bajir Controllers below. I don’t know if you’ve ever been up close and personal with a snarling gorilla, but let me tell you, I knew we were on the same side and even I was scared.

“HRRRRRROAH!”

The bellow of a lowland gorilla is one of the more terrifying sounds in the animal kingdom. A roar of a lion or the trumpet of an elephant might carry further on the open savannah, but the alpha silverback gorilla evolved to fight off his rivals in the dense mountain jungle. Marco’s howl reverberated off the dingy walls of the alley with so much force that for a second it left the Hork-Bajir dazed as their ears rang and their excellent hearing became a momentary weakness.

That was all the time Marco needed to launch himself off the fire escape and execute a flawless elbow drop that would have made John Cena proud, pummeling the nearest Hork-Bajir and knocking over another one in the process. Within a span of seconds he had kicked the legs out from under another Hork-Bajir Controller and sprung to his feet to sidestep as one of the remaining Hork-Bajir charged him, grab her by the neck, and ram her headfirst into the Dumpster with enough force that her horns were stuck in the siding.

While Marco was taking out his opponents left and right, Ax had troubles of his own. After fighting his way up the stairs, he was starting to wear out, and fast. His strikes lacked the surgical precision he had shown at the pool, and he was slowing down. It was then that I realized that it was more than just exhaustion: there was a huge gash on his side. My eyes were somewhere between tiger and human but I could see that there was a lot of blue-black blood on the pavement. I realized all of a sudden that I had never seen Ax take a serious injury in Andalite form before, and I had no idea how bad it was or how much time he had.

<Ax,> I asked, grateful to have thoughtspeak as I poured every last ounce of my energy into growing claws and fangs. <How are you doing?>

<I am very badly wounded, Prince Jake,> Ax said. <If this battle is not over soon, I am afraid it will be my last.>

I launched myself at the nearest Hork-Bajir, close enough to done morphing that I could inflict some damage, but, incredibly, it was Marco who was finishing this fight, taking on two of the remaining four Hork-Bajir at once, clotheslining one and dropping another with a punch to the gut. As I subdued my opponent, I watched Ax slice the last of the eight from shoulder to thigh with a messy, shuddering strike. But it achieved its purpose, and the last of the eight Hork-Bajir fell to the ground.

A second later, Ax swayed and fell as well.

<Time to go,> Marco said tersely. He scooped up Ax, slung him over his back, and broke into a three-legged knucklewalking jog towards the street.

<Marco, what are you doing? We can’t go out on the street-> I said.

Marco turned around to face me and for a second, the look on that all-too-human gorilla face scared me more than his roar had. In private thoughtspeak, Marco said, <You know what, Jake? You left Ax to die back there, and guess what? Now he’s dying. So forgive me if I put our confidentiality concerns on the backburner for a minute and get Ax to safety?>

<There’s another alley on the next street corner, to your left, unoccupied, on your left,> Tobias said, circling above us. <I can’t get much of a visual with these bat eyes though.>

<Street’s clear,> Cassie said. <But there’s a cop car a block from here coming this way, so you need to move now.>

Marco made a dash for the street corner with Ax on his back and I followed them into the next alley. Gently, he set Ax down in the shadows. Ax laid on the ground, stirring weakly, Marco cradling his face in his massive gorilla hands.

<C’mon, dude,> he said, rapidly demorphing to human. <You need to morph, now. Anything will do.>

<Marco?> Ax asked. His voice sounded shockingly faint. <You look taller from this angle.>

<Ax-man, that better have been a sad attempt at Earth humor,> Marco said. <You can’t go delirious on us. Stay with me, man.>

<Cassie, what’s wrong with him?> Rachel asked. <Why isn’t he just morphing owl or something?>

<He might be going into shock,> Cassie said. <Or it might be that Andalites are more vulnerable to major injuries than humans are. Humans are much more resilient to nonfatal injuries than most other mammals. It’s possible that Andalites might be in the same category.>

She was trying to stay clinical, but I could hear a note of panic in her voice. She really thought Ax might die. And it was all my fault.

<Rachel, I am sorry that you had to miss Monday Movie Night and that I ‘chickened out’ yet again,> Ax said. Marco was human now, still holding Ax’s face in his hands as if he could force him to stop losing blood by sheer force of will.

<Ax, I don’t care if you blow a hundred more dates with Marco, just start morphing,> Rachel said sharply. This was not the kind of crisis that suited Rachel, where you couldn’t fix anything by adding more firepower. <Why aren’t you morphing?>

In private thoughtspeak, Cassie said, <Jake, tell him to morph human. I know we need to get him out of here but a morph that’s closer to his current size might be easier for him in this state than a small morph.>

She was probably right. He always went on about how much he worried about his mass in Z-space even when he was thinking straight, who knows what would be going through his head in this state?

<Ax,> I barked, mustering as much force as I could through the haze of my exhaustion. <Morph. Now. Human. Go.>

There was a second where nothing happened and even in tiger morph, I held my breath. Then his tail shriveled up and sepia-brown skin covered over that horrible gash. His front legs withered away and muscle coiled around his delicate Andalite arms. When he was all but finished morphing, he reached up to touch Marco’s cheek.

“Dude,” Marco said. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“I agree that the outcome of that battle was less than optimal,” Ax said, but his typical space-cadet cadence came out sounding softer somehow, almost tender. Maybe he was still shaken by the near-death experience - there was still a pronounced pallor under his terracotta complexion, but at least Ax was all in one piece.

<Uh, maybe we should give these two a moment?> Tobias suggested in private thoughtspeak addressed to me, Cassie and Rachel. <From what I know of Andalite culture, stroking somebody’s face is how they, um. Kiss.>

Oh. I hadn’t quite expected that. I had known that the two of them were hopelessly crushing on one another, thanks to Cassie, but I hadn’t counted on their first real romantic moment being in a dirty alley immediately after a battle where we almost all died. <Roger that,> I said, ducking further down the alley, but I still had to demorph and remorph, and unfortunately, I still had the tiger’s super-sharp hearing and I couldn't exactly turn it off. I prayed that my human ears would be the first thing I got.

“Look, Ax,” Marco was saying. “I don't wanna lose anybody. But I really don't wanna lose you.”

“Would you care to elaborate as to the reason why?”

I had to give it to Ax - a minute and a half ago he’d been bleeding out on the pavement and now he was playing Marco like a Stradivarius. Even as my tiger ears were dimming, I could practically hear the smirk.

Luckily for Marco, I couldn’t hear what his answer was. I finished demorphing and gave the two of them exactly sixty seconds to finish up whatever pressing declarations of love they needed to get out in the open before walking back out into the alley.

“Ahem,” I said. Ax and Marco broke apart. Marco looked pretty embarrassed and wasn’t meeting my eye, Ax, on the other hand, seemed remarkably collected.

“Um,” Marco said.

“I hate to interrupt,” I said. “I have three things I need to say and then I’m heading home. First of all, we all need to get out of here. Visser Three will send troops to search the surrounding blocks any minute now. We need to get airborne.”

“Agreed, Prince Jake,” Ax said. I noticed that he and Marco were still holding hands.

“Great,” I said. “Number two. Congratulations.”

“Uh, thanks, man,” Marco mumbled.

“Don’t mention it.” I started morphing owl - peregrine falcon would be nearly useless at night - and Marco and Ax followed suit. <Was there another point you wished to raise?>

<Point number three,> I said. <I’m happy for you guys, I really am. But, please, for the sake of all our sanities, don't ever make us dedicate Animorphs resources towards playing matchmaker for you two. We had more meetings about you two than we did about the mission.>

<Understood, Prince Jake,> Ax said.

<Look, I'm not saying I don't appreciate it, but I never asked for your help, dude,> Marco said in private thoughtspeak, rapidly shrinking and sprouting white feathers.

<I wasn't talking about you, Marco,> I said, trying to keep the mental equivalent of a straight face. <Ax has been trying to tell you how he feels for the past two weeks. What did you think that beach trip was about? Or all that switching around stakeout schedules?>

<Ah,> Marco said, sound smug.

<I _am_ sorry for crashing your first date, though, > I said.

<Don't sweat it,> Marco said. <What could be more normal than having my best friend bark orders at me as a tiger while I have a moment with my crush at midnight in a bad part of town in a pool of his blood?> He laughed.

I heard a wail of sirens down the street. <All right, folks,> I said. <Time to get out of here.>

Marco said, <Let's fly.>


End file.
